Developer Aids

BACmove offers solutions to use the BACnet protocol on mobile devices. Their BACnet Explorer and HMI apps are available for Android and iOS devices. They also offer BACnet app development services and a BACnet library compatible with Android, iOS and Windows (UWP).

Chipkin offers a wide range of BACnet-centric solutions. Some examples are BACnet Stacks, BACnet Tools (such as BACnet Explorer, Scanner, Object Monitor, etc.), Routers, Gateways/Converters, and Loggers.

Cimetrics offers networking products for distributed monitoring and control systems – BACnet Routers, OPC Server, BAS-o-matic protocol analyzer and BACnet Explorer. Cimetrics offers a BACnet protocol stack called BACstac^TM designed for use in Windows and Linux based workstations, servers, and gateways, as well as in embedded controllers.

FieldServer offers a family of ProtoCessor – OEM Protocol Modules that support BACnet, LON, Modbus and a variety of other protocols.

INTEGRATED offers a variety of products to get connected to BACnet with simple interfaces.

MBS provides several BACnet products including a Universal BACnet Gateway, BACnet routers, protocol stacks, and the “BACnet Test Framework,” a tool for automated protocol testing using scripts such as those developed by the BTL-WG.

Newron System offers a variety of software including BACnet APIs for Windows and Linux, using C/C++ and VB. They also offer a Web Services interface and OPC

PolarSoft can provide a range of software for developers such as its BACdoor^TM Client and BACdoor^TM Server for building BACnet applications. In addition, they offer their FreeRange^TM products which include a version specially designed for very small, embedded implementations.

SCADA Engine offers a variety of software development kits for both client and server applications. Software is available for Windows and Linux and uses C and C++. They also offer several BACnet-OPC products.

SoftDEL offers a royalty-free BACnet stack library to building automation OEMs. Their services include BACnet training and consulting, stack integration, testing, and porting to target device application/platform. Their stack library includes: BACnet MS/TP stack (Baremetal) that supports profiles ranging from B-SS to B-ASC; BACnet MS/TP stack (OS/RTOS) that supports profiles ranging from simple B-ASC to B-BC; and BACnet/IP stack (OS/RTOS) that supports profiles ranging from simple B-SS to complex B-AWS. SoftDEL also offers a BACnet/IP Simulation Tool (BOSS) for testing various BACnet functionalities.

BACnet Firewall Router The BACnet Firewall Router (BFR) is an application that combines BACnet routing capability with traffic management functions to carefully control access to building automation and control networks.

BACnet on Rabbit
This is a Dynamic C port of the BACnet Protocol Stack (referred to above) for use with systems based on the Rabbit family of processors. The initial port targets the Rabbit BL4S100 single board computers using BACnet/IP but, according to the author, it should be easy enough to get it working with other Rabbit products.

BACnet Protocol Stack

This BACnet library provides a BACnet application layer, network layer and media access (MAC) layer communications services for an embedded system.

BACnet Stack for Linux

This project’s goal is to develop a complete implementation of the BACnet protocol for use by anyone who wishes to give their products BACnet communication capability.

BACnetSim is meant to be a portable implementation of the BACnet data communication protocol. It is meant for embedded devices and uses MS/TP as the media access layer and is a fork of bacnet-stack-0.0.1.

BACnet4J

This project is a BACnet/IP implementation written for Java (minimum version 1.5) by Serotonin Software. It supports all BACnet services and full message segregation and can be used for field devices or for control platforms.

BACpypes

This BACnet library provides a BACnet application layer and network layer written in Python for daemons, scripting, and graphical interfaces.

BACnet/SC Reference Stack

BACnet S/C is a secure, encrypted datalink layer in the BACnet specification. The BACnet S/C reference implementation includes a sophisticated Test Bench that enables rapid creation of multiple nodes and hubs in complex network environments.

Node BACstack Library

This is a BACnet protocol stack written in pure JavaScript.

Temco BACnet Front End
The T3000 Building Automation System front end is a mature project for managing the mechanical systems of commercial buildings. The application is coded using Visual Studio 2015/2010 in C++ and hosted on GitHub. The software runs on a Windows PC and works mainly with Temco Controls products, but anyone is welcome to join in and add their own devices and features. Communications is supported over BACnet MS/TP, BACnet/IP and Modbus over all the usual physical layers: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, EIA-485, EIA-232, ZigBee, and GSM network.

Visual Test Shell for BACnet

Visual Test Shell (VTS) is an application for testing the BACnet functionality of various devices used in building automation systems. VTS is one of the main tools used by the BACnet Testing Laboratories and is currently being upgraded to support enhanced automated scripting capabilities.

Yet Another BACnet Explorer (YABE)

YABE is a small graphical explorer program written in C#, for browsing BACnet devices. It currently supports BACnet/IP + BACnet MS/TP + BACnet PTP. It provides basic functions for read, write, read multiple, write multiple, i-am, who-is, subscribeCOV, notify, read file, write file, etc.

BACnet International Developer Resources

This site is maintained by members of the BACnet Testing Laboratories Working Group and contains, among other things, the most current version of the BTL Implementation Guidelines, a compendium of best practices in BACnet system design.

BACnet Experts

This is a place to go to ask any BACnet question and get expert advice free-of-any-charge, detailed answers to several common questions that are highly technical, and free and detailed tutorials on BACnet developer topics.

The BACnet Community Forum at The BACnet Institute

The BACnet Community Forum is an interactive environment that offers knowledge-sharing and provides an opportunity for users to submit BACnet-related questions to be answered by a panel of experts in the BACnet industry.

Wireshark is an open-source protocol analyzer used by network professionals around the world for troubleshooting, analysis, software and protocol development, and education. Wireshark supports hundreds of popular protocols and contains extensive decoding of BACnet messages, including the ability to set up very specific capture and display filters. There are versions for Unix, Linux, and Windows.

“Understanding BACnet Encoding” supplied by, and offered with the permission of American Standard Inc., this MS-Word document will be a great help to those who wish to write their own BACnet software. Starting from scratch, this document shows how to read the description of BACnet protocol services, interpret the Abstract Syntax Notation, and actually figure out the ones and zeros needed to encode the message. Although the examples are based on the ARCNET and Point-to-Point data links, readers will easily be able to infer how to extend the examples to any of the other BACnet LAN types.

A detailed technical description of how BACnet devices may communicate using the Internet protocols. To view further info, please review the following PDF files:

1. Introduction
2. BACnet/IP – Some basic design criteria
3. What is a BACnet/IP network?
4. Introducing the BACnet Virtual Link Layer
5. B/IP to B/IP
6. B/IP Broadcast
7. IP Broadcasts are not routed
8. Tree configuration of BBMDs
9. Ring configuration of BBMDs
10. B/IP Network Architecture
11. More BDT Management
12. Direct communications between devices
13. Local broadcast received by BBMD
14. Broadcast message is then distributed to devices on peer subnets
15. Foreign devices
16. Maintaining Foreign Device Tables
17. Forwarding a broadcast to a foreign device
18. Communications between BACnet/IP networks and Non-BACnet/IP networks
19. Remote Broadcast from a BACnet/IP device to a Non-BACnet/IP network
20. Non-BACnet/IP device directs a broadcast to a BACnet/IP network
21. Routing between two BACnet/IP networks
22. Combined B/IP Routers and BBMDs
23. Router Tables
24. B/IP Router operation
25. Summary